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A rare condition only affecting one in 80,000 childbearing mothers that can cause severe internal bleeding, collapsed lungs and massive blood loss — and worse, death… And it’s all the result of a small shard of an unborn child’s fingernail that can sometimes enter into mom’s blood system during birth.

Mom, Angela Cottam, 33, gave birth to twins five weeks prematurely, and though the little ones had to be resuscitated, they lived. It was Angela who almost died after a suspected fingernail from one of the twins entered her bloodstream during delivery.

The very rare condition caused Angela to suffer severe internal bleeding and her lungs collapsed and the foreign object made its way through her veins.

Before she would emerge on the other side, alive, Angela lost seven pints of blood, needed 22 transfusions and spent 12 hours in a coma.

“I feel so lucky to be here and really blessed that both the girls are with us because it could have been so different,” said Angela.

“There are moments when I’ve been on my own, and I’ve had a little cry and thought ‘What if?’ But I try not to dwell on that and just thank my lucky stars the doctors and midwives on duty that day recognized what was happening.”

There’s no question about it, Angela is lucky to be alive, now let’s just hope she can make it through puberty…